Environmental control apparatus for exposure apparatus
AssigneeNikon Corporation
InventorToshiharu Nakashima
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is an environmental control apparatus for controlling a working environment in an exposure apparatus for effecting exposure using exposure light having a wavelength range in which oxygen absorbs the exposure light. The apparatus comprises an ozone removing filter for removing ozone in the air supplied to the exposure apparatus. By use of the environmental control apparatus of the present invention, ozone which is present in the air supplied to the exposure apparatus and absorbs the exposure light can be removed, so that a decrease in the amount of exposure light can be suppressed and hence, the amount of exposure light can be stabilized during exposure.
Claims24
An environmental control apparatus for controlling a working environment in an exposure apparatus comprising:
- an ozone removing filter disposed in a flow path of gas supplied to the exposure apparatus to remove at least ozone produced by exposure light.
An exposure apparatus for forming an image on an object by exposure light from a light source comprising:
- a wafer stage disposed in an image plane side of a projection optical system to receive a wafer to be exposed to said exposure light;
- and
- a gas conditioning system disposed in the exposure apparatus to supply a gas between said light source and said wafer stage, said gas conditioning system including an ozone removing filter disposed in the gas flow path to remove at least the ozone produced by said exposure light.
An exposure apparatus comprising:
- an illumination optical system disposed in an exposure light path to transmit said exposure light to a reticle having a pattern formed thereon;
- a projection optical system disposed in the exposure light path to transfer an image of the pattern to a wafer;
- a wafer stage disposed in an image plane side of a projection optical system to receive said wafer;
- and
- a gas conditioning system disposed in the exposure apparatus to supply a gas between a light source and said wafer stage, said gas conditioning system including an ozone removing filter disposed in a flow path of the gas to remove at least ozone produced by said exposure light.
An exposure apparatus for forming an image on an object by exposure light from a light source comprising:
- an ozone removing filter disposed in a flow path of at least ozone produced by the exposure light, the ozone removing filter being adapted to remove the ozone.
An exposure apparatus for forming an image on an object by exposure light from a light source comprising:
- an ozone concentration detection sensor disposed in a flow path of at least ozone produced by exposure light, the ozone concentration detection sensor being adapted to detect a concentration of the ozone.
An environmental control apparatus for controlling a working environment in an exposure apparatus which forms an image on an object by exposure light from a light source comprising:
- an ozone removing filter disposed in a flow path of a gas supplied to an area including the light path of the exposure light, the ozone removing filter being adapted to remove at least ozone produced by the exposure light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.